this is a request for people who have any knowledge or experience of chronic muscle pain to give some advice or information. of course it is a classic symptom of m.e and i expect to have it for a long time, but it is definitely the the most painful of my symptoms and most common after the feeling of general tiredness.

i almost always feel uncomfortable in my shoulders and back, and when things are paricularly bad my neck almost seizes up with the pain and headaches are constant. right now i have something similar to a buzzing feeling in my jaw, which i think is from this.

please feel free to talk about your own experiences with this too.

by the way, yoga can provide excellent short term help if it is possible, and no doubt long term too, but i have only been doing it very recently.

Mark, I've also had some muscle pain and it can be hard to deal with. Some doctors will prescribe muscle relaxers which can really help, but they can make some people a little groggy or sleepy. Sometimes a doctor can prescribe physical therapy too where you can learn some stretches and other techniques to help relieve some pain. My son has juvenile arthritis and he was suffering from terrible back pain and headaches and physical therapy helped him a lot.

I've had lots of achiness since developing cfids, especially in my legs and hips. The only things that initially worked for me was bengay and hot baths, both of which were very temporary. I tried lots of advil, tylenol, aleve and prescription muscle relaxers to no avail. Then, my doctor put me on Thyroid hormone (T3, not T4), even though I technically did not have low thyroid. As I went up on the thyroid, the muscle aches went away. I am being treated at the fibro and fatigue center in atlanta. Good Luck-

I suffer from chronic muscle pain due to traumatic injury. Body work has been the most helpful thing for me. I see a massage therapist and classical osteopath regularly. Osteopathic treatment balances the tensions in the soft tissues, ie tendons, ligaments and muscles. He also does cranial sacral therapy. I also see a chiropractor. These three treatments make a huge difference for me, a difference that I am most aware of when I let it go for a while, either out of laziness or wishful thinking that I don't need it as much anymore. Recently I went into a deep depression which kept me in a state where I didn't follow through on any therapies for about a month and a half. It caused a huge regression in the progress I had made earlier. I learned a big lesson. I have found that if I go too long between treatments my pain goes way up, my muscles will go into constant spasm, numbness will creep in (especially in my face and upper arm), my posture will become even more skewed than it already is, and that will of course make everything worse and cyclic.

I also do pool therapy in a warm water pool, take hot baths with epsom salts each day, and see a personal therapist to help me with the mental-emotional aspects and adjustment issues that my injury and the subsequent changes in my lifestyle have brought.

Put together a body work team very consciously. Don't go to just anyone. Find the best of each in your area. Interview them and make sure you have a good rapport and similar philosophies about health and healing, and also that they are very experienced working with your particular issues.

Nothing that any MD has offered me as much as these three, and my pain management doc even complimented me on the team I had put together as a really good approach for my issues. He added the pool therapy (which I do at the YMCA by taking part in a water exercise class sponsored by the arthritis association.) Hope this is helpful.